Marine Le Pen launches 2027 presidential bid after appeal conviction, as top court warns ruling could land just before the vote
A day after a Paris appeals court convicted her of embezzling public funds, Marine Le Pen declared her 2027 presidential candidacy and hit the campaign trail, while the Court of Cassation said it might rule on her final appeal only weeks before the election.
Conviction and sentence
On Tuesday, the Paris Court of Appeal found Marine Le Pen and eleven other party members guilty of embezzling European Parliament funds over an eleven-year period, with a total prejudice estimated at more than 2.8 million euros. The court sentenced her to three years in prison, two of them suspended, leaving one year to be served under house arrest with an electronic bracelet. Her ineligibility penalty was reduced to 45 months, with 30 months suspended, a recalculation that clears the way for her to stand in the 2027 presidential election.
Appeal to the Court of Cassation
Le Pen announced on TF1 the same evening that she would appeal to France’s highest court. Because the appeal ruling did not include provisional execution, the sentences are suspended while the Court of Cassation examines the case. On Wednesday, the court itself issued a statement saying it “could” rule on the appeal “at the latest early April 2027”, a window that falls directly against the presidential election calendar.
- Paris Court of Appeal convicts Le Pen of embezzlement, sentences her to 3 years in prison (1 year house arrest) and adjusts ineligibility, allowing a 2027 run.
- Le Pen announces on TF1 that she will appeal to the Court of Cassation and declares her 2027 presidential candidacy.
- Le Pen and Bardella make a surprise campaign stop in La Flèche, the only RN-run town in western France.
- The Court of Cassation states it could rule on the appeal by early April 2027, potentially days before the presidential election.
- Latest possible date for the Court of Cassation ruling, according to the court’s own statement.
I am not gaining time. I am appealing to prove my innocence.
First campaign stop in La Flèche
Hours after formalising her candidacy, Le Pen travelled to La Flèche in the Sarthe department, accompanied by party president Jordan Bardella. The town of nearly 15,000 inhabitants is the only municipality in western France governed by the Rassemblement National, having been won in the March 2026 local elections. The visit was designed to showcase the party’s expanding local footprint in a region where it remains thinly represented.
The French will be the judges.
Political reactions
Bruno Retailleau, the former interior minister and centre-right presidential hopeful, attacked Le Pen on France 2, calling her economic programme left-wing and declaring, “She will ruin the country.” He dismissed the prospect of her campaigning with an electronic bracelet as “not my problem” and ruled out rallying behind former prime minister Edouard Philippe, insisting he would “go all the way” with his own radical project.
She will ruin the country.
Voter loyalty in the northern heartland
In Bruay-la-Buissière, a Pas-de-Calais commune that gave Le Pen over 69% of its vote in the 2022 presidential runoff, supporters shrugged off the conviction. One resident told L’Express, “She doesn’t deserve what’s happening to her,” while another summed up the mood: “Marine, that’s Marine.” The reaction suggests the legal saga has not eroded her core base in the former mining basin.
Marine, that’s Marine.
